S: Notable vanilla but not as overpowering as I was expecting. Smells just like vanilla beans, and not that artificial vanilla extract flavor you commonly get, therefore not as sweet as you would think. Kinda gives it an almost creme brulee aspect. Combines nicely with the chocolate and dark fruits but the vanilla is definitely at the forefront.

T: Char, bitter chocolate and burnt sugars up front with hints of dark fruits. A wave of sweet vanilla and caramel sweeps in in the middle and takes over. Wonderful. Finish starts to turn a little bitter once the sweetness fades, leaving a little char and cocoa again. There is some toasted coconut and oak in the aftertaste from the barrels. Lingering charred oak and vanilla between sips. Almost has a marshmallow flavor at times, I assume that's some combination of the vanilla and the bourbon.

M: Heavy, viscous, a little creamier than the coffee version but somehow not as smooth at the same time.

O: Damn, another great beer from Jack's Abby. I just had the Coffee version of this two days ago. I would have thought I'd like the vanilla version better (I don't even like or drink coffee), but I think the coffee one beats this one out slightly. The coffee added a nice bitter contrast to the smooth sweet flavors of the base beer. However, the coffee version was so mind blowing maybe if I had reversed the order in which I drank them, the vanilla would have really wowed me the first time around. In any case, this beer is still stunning. Smooth, sweet, creamy, well balanced and with great variety of flavors. Jack's Abby keeps knocking it out the park. Awesomely crafted. (1,849 characters)